Up for the cup!

GLORY came Trust Re’s way with a sudden death penalty shoot-out victory against newly-crowned league champions, Olympique de Bahrain, in the final game of the 2012 season for the coveted GulfWeekly Cup.

With Olympique aiming to become the first team in the history of the eight-a-side Expat League to ‘do the double’, a nail-biting game was in the end decided on penalties after two goals apiece saw the teams gridlocked at full-time.

The first half was a tight affair with both sides cancelling each other out in the middle of the park, battling for supremacy playing their free-flowing football, which entertained many throughout the season.

Perhaps surprisingly for the studio pundits of Bahrain TV, Trust Re broke the deadlock with a swift move resulting in Jozeph Daboura shooting hard and low into the goal. Olympique were quick to reply and show why they were crowned league champions, with two goals from Jonathan Parrod.
 
Olympique looked set to achieve their double dream until another great move for Trust Re resulted in a shot from distance from Hassan Trad, making the full-time score 2-2.

Ever-present Nick Davis, the officiating referee, called time and headed towards the North End for the tense penalty shoot-out at the British School of Bahrain’s artificial pitch.

Olympique lost the toss, so their penalties were taken in front of the scores of amassed Trust Re fans that made the long journey up from the Diplomatic area.
 
Amine Ben Abdeljalil, Mehdi Ait Yahoui and former French League professional and top scorer with 16 goals, Jaouad Rahou, all stepped forward to confidently slot their penalties for Olympique. 

In reply Muath Assaf, Trad and Daboura too scored their penalties for the score to be tied 3-3 for the mandatory penalty-takers.

We then moved into ‘sudden death’ where the first player to miss would provide the other team an opportunity to take the GulfWeekly trophy. 

Olympique’s hero Parrod, who had already notched two goals, stepped forward to take the fourth kick but was thwarted by a great reactionary save by Trust Re keeper Kamal Jawad who stuck out a foot to divert his goal-bound effort.

As tensions rose, Chaker Khamis stepped forward to score the winning penalty and allow Trust Re to take the coveted 2012 GulfWeekly Cup prize sending the packed Hamala stadium into rapturous celebrations, not witnessed since Oak FC beat Saar Eagles to lift the League Trophy in 2011.

Trust Re’s side was made up of expats from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and other countries who mostly work for the company which specialises in all classes of non-life reinsurance with an industry-acknowledged expertise in energy.

Trust Re player-manager Muath said after the game: ìWe are delighted to have overcome a creative BNP team, while playing our own brand of fast, attacking football. 

ìLifting this massive trophy is a tremendous effort for everyone involved at our club. We promised our supporters a great cup run and we have delivered on our commitment.

"We never stopped believing; not for one second. We hope all our fans will join the open top bus celebrations in the Diplomatic Area at the weekend."

Trust Re goal scorer Trad added: ìWe have been playing and training together on a regular basis for years now. We have been playing in the league for the past three years and reached the cup semi-final last season. This season we won it and we couldn’t be happier.

"The team played very well. They exhausted a lot of energy and time to reach the final which I would like to thank them again for. In general, the season was great, well-organised and full of good and competent teams."

Although Olympique de Bahrain, a collective of mostly French-speaking bankers based with BNP Paribas, may have lost the cup final they are still hopeful of retaining the league title and aim to come back even stronger next season.

Olympique de Bahrain coach Farid Abderrezak said: ìWe played well but collectively lacked aggressiveness, determination throughout the game and relied heavily on individual exploits.

"Next season we will extend the team to include additional players; all expat talents are welcome for try-outs before we start the season. Some of our injured players (myself included) will come back, inshallah, giving the team further options. Our goal is to participate in other tournaments in Bahrain open to expat players."

No-nonsense referee Davis said: "The Expat League has been a great success again with a total change around in teams’ positions in the league from the previous season. Olympic de Bahrian won the league from the British Club on goal difference and the GulfWeekly Cup Final was a great end to the season."